Where's Warrick?
by MellaNella
Summary: Warrick goes missing and the other CSI's try to find him...N/S...please R&R ~*ADDED CHAPTER 4*~
1. 1

~1~1~1~1~1~  
  
____________________ It was around nightfall when Grissom arrived at the lab. He honestly didn't want to go to another night at work. He was just thinking of the long night ahead of him, but then he saw Sara and his mood lightened considerably.  
  
"Hey Grissom."  
  
"Hi."  
  
"Lovely night, don't you think?"  
  
^Hell no!^ "Umm.yeah. I guess so."  
  
"Any new stuff for us to work on tonight?"  
  
"I already told you this morning when you left ~ I need some paperwork done and you guys are going to do that."  
  
"Shit. I thought that you might change your mind. Are you sure?"  
  
"For the last time Sara, yes." ^She's extremely obsessed with her job. I thought that she liked every aspect of it. Well, I guess, maybe not. You can never figure her out sometimes.^  
  
They both walked the rest of the way in silence. When they finally got to the break room, they found nick in there watching none other than Spongebob. Grissom finally spoke.  
  
"Nick, I have a question. When the county calls and asks what we spent our money on this month, should I tell them that we bought a premium package on cable just so my CSI's can sit on their asses all night and watch some little inane sponge dance across the television?  
  
Sara failed to stifle a laugh.  
  
"Huh? What?" said Nick who didn't hear a word that Grissom was just saying. Then he turned around and realized that he had company. "Oh! Hi Grissom. Hi Sara."  
  
"Hi," said Grissom. "Are you ready to work yet?"  
  
"But shift hasn't even started yet!!!"  
  
"It will be in," Grissom consulted his watch, "in two minutes. So, Where's Catherine?"  
  
"Here I am," said Catherine who just walked in the door, "What'd I miss?"  
  
"Nothing. Warrick called in sick, so were one short tonight. Anyway, shift starts in two minutes, so have your fun now."  
  
"Grissom turned to Catherine to talk to her but Catherine said that she forgot something in her car and she'll be right back. Suddenly, all hell broke loose as Nick and Sara decided to have their "fun." Sara took Nick's coffee and ran away with it, so, naturally, Nick had to follow and get his coffee back.  
  
"Come back here you little bitch!" Nick yelled playfully. "I'll get you!"  
  
"Catch me if you can!" Sara yelled back.  
  
"They ran all over the lab and tried not to knock over anything. They were really unsuccessful at this because they ran into lots of people and frequently made them drop whatever they were carrying. They finally ended up back in the break room where they started. Just as Sara was about to pour Nick's coffee down the sink, Grissom's phone rang. Sara paused for just a second listening intently, and in that second, Nick took the opportunity and snatched his coffee back. He was finally woken up now and he really didn't need it, but getting the coffee back was the victory trophy.  
  
^Wow^ Nick thought, ^Sara can run.^ He flashed her an "I got the coffee so I win" smile.  
  
All Sara did was smile and turned back to Grissom.  
  
"Uh-huh.yeah," he was saying, "no, not really.thanks.okay, bye."  
  
"Sounded like a really fascinating conversation, Grissom," Sara said. "Who was it? Do tell! The suspense is mounting." She burst out laughing.  
  
"Shut up. It was only Catherine calling to tell me that those guys who put advertisements on your cars hit the parking lot." Nick and Sara grinned mischievously at each other. "I HATE those people! I got to go get the ad off of my car or it's going to bother me all night."  
  
He walked out of the break room and out the front door of the lab into the night with Sara and Nick in tow.  
  
Suddenly noticing they were following him, Grissom exclaimed, "what are you two doing here?"  
  
"Free country" replied Nick. He and Sara grinned at each other behind his back. They knew something that Grissom didn't.  
  
Grissom realized that when he got to his car, his was the only one with an advertisement on his car. ^Oh well, at least I didn't come out here for nothing.^ He reached out for the piece of paper, but it jerked away. "What the hell?" He tried to pick it up from the ground, but it moved again. Grissom reached for it a third time, but it pulled away again.  
  
Sara, unable to control herself, burst out laughing, and nick followed her. From behind a car, Catherine emerged, holding a string attached the paper Grissom was chasing after.  
  
"The oldest trick in the book Grissom! And you fell for it!" laughed Nick.  
  
"Who's idea was this?!" Grissom asked angrily. Immediately all fingers pointed to Sara. She smiled guiltily.  
  
"I.well.I uh."  
  
^Sara? Couldn't be! Well I guess it's true. I thought she was better than this^ "God damnit Sara! Shift has already started and I'm out here in the parking lot just fooling around! Get in there and never do this shit again! We don't have time for this!"  
  
They all walked back to the lab and went to their offices. Catherine was trying to calm Grissom down.  
  
"We really need some humor in the lab sometimes she reasoned. With all of the deaths and everything else, we really need a way to keep happy." She reasoned.  
  
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Grissom thought for a second. "Everyone, you can do this sometimes, and not always on me."  
  
"Thank you, thank you!" Sara squealed with delight. Then she planted a quick kiss on his cheek.  
  
"You're welcome. Now you all really need to get to work, and yes Sara, you have to do it. Now get to work."  
  
They all went to their offices and went to work. Grissom was in his office thinking about his Big Mouth Billy Bass. ^I really need to get new batteries for old Fred. I really like seeing when others, especially Greg, walk in and see him.^  
  
^I really don't want to do this, ^ Sara thought. ^Might as well work with Nick so I have someone to talk to and so I have something really nice to look at. Maybe if I can get him at my place this morning, we could have a lot of fun. Imagine Nick in bed...Ooh!^ She got up and went to work with him and maybe persuade him to come home with her.  
  
Catherine sat in her office and called home to make sure that her daughter Lindsey was getting ready for bed. "You okay honey? Okay then, Mommy loves you! Bye!" ^I wish I could be a normal mom who is home for her daughter. If Ed wasn't such a jerk maybe I could have been.^  
  
News had not gotten around to Greg yet that Warrick was sick. Greg went into Warrick's office because he was tired of doing DNA already. He walked in and found a note on Warrick's desk.  
  
A ransom note.  
  
To be continued. 


	2. 2

~2~2~2~2~2~  
  
____________________ Greg strolled into Warrick's office. "Hey War what's up? I - hey! You're not here. Oh well." Greg milled around for a bit. Then an evil idea popped into his head.  
  
^Why not take something of his while he's gone. Then I can make him let me borrow that new video game of his that I want. I won't give it back until he does. Now, let's start looking. Where the hell does he keep all of the stuff he likes? Guess I'll have to take it drawer by drawer. Drawer number one. Let's see what he has in here.pens.pencils.business cards, God! He has a lot of crap in here.more paper.condoms?! Warrick told me that he didn't have a girlfriend! That's good enough blackmail for me. Well, I don't think he'd mind if I borrowed one of these. Now where's that new intern? I haven't had sex with her yet.^  
  
Greg started to leave, but the note caught his eye. "What the hell is this?" He picked it up and read it. "Oh no. This isn't good."  
  
Suddenly forgetting all else, Greg ran like the mighty wind to Grissom's office. He nearly broke down the door.  
  
"Grisom!" he said in a mad rush. "I found this!"  
  
"Calm down Greg! You nearly break down my door and you don't even say hi. You just shove some paper into my hands. What's gotten into you?" Grissom having finished yelling at Greg for the time being, picked up the note and read it. "Aww, Greg. I said no more. I already was tricked tonight. Ok? Please. No more for tonight, and to think of it, for tomorrow too."  
  
"What? I walked into Warrick's office and found that on his desk.! I'm not playing! You'd be scared as hell if you found that!"  
  
"So you claim not to do it. Hold on a sec. I'll get the rest of the crew." Grissom paged each and every one of them, sat back and waited for them to come.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Back in Nick's office, Sara and Nick were talking.  
  
"So, you gave me a good wakeup this evening. What gave you the idea to do that?" Nick asked Sara.  
  
"Well, I thought you needed it. Besides, every man needs to lose to a woman sometimes."  
  
"Ohh you rotten little bitch. I'll get you back. I will!"  
  
"Then I'll just have to take you coffee again."  
  
"Oh no you won't!"  
  
"Yes I will! Hey do you want to come over to my place tonight?" Sara asked, deciding to catch Nick off guard.  
  
"Uh, Yeah. That sounds great."  
  
"Good. You can come home with me then."  
  
Both their pagers beeped.  
  
^What the hell does Grissom want now?^ thought Sara. ^I was just getting it on, and now he has to interrupt.^  
  
They both walked down to Grissom's office. Apparently had called Catherine too, because she was walking a little in front of them and heading the same way. They didn't bother asking her, though.  
  
They all arrived in Grissom's office and found Grissom there with Greg. Greg looked worried and Grissom looked mad.  
  
"Who did this?" Grissom asked. He showed then the note.  
  
"What is that?" Nick asked  
  
"Another one of your tricks I suppose."  
  
"Tonight was all Grissom." Catherine said. "You know that. I gave you my word that none of us would do that again."  
  
"Well, apparently, someone thinks that it's funny to leave this shit lying around. Sara? Did you do this? You've been awfully quiet."  
  
"W-Warrick's gone!"  
  
"So you all mean to say that you didn't do this at all and you have no idea who did?"  
  
"We would never play a trick at someone else's expense. We love Warrick!" Sara replied.  
  
"Well love him like a friend, Sara," Nick was saying, "just to get that straight. But yeah, Grissom, None of us did this."  
  
"Grissom. We would never do this! Earlier was just a harmless prank. " Catherine explained.  
  
"So none of you did this?" Grissom's anger started to turn to worry.  
  
"No," they all said in unison.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"So the note says to go to the Mirage hotel and pick up a note "for Grissom" behind the desk." Nick was saying. "Sara, you're coming with me."  
  
"Be careful," Grissom warned. "We don't need two missing CSI's. Catherine. You and I get to stay here and watch the surveillance tapes for the lab."  
  
~*~*~~*~*~  
  
Nick and Sara were off to the Mirage.  
  
"When I asked for something to do other that paperwork, I never wanted this to happen. I'd do anything to be in there doing paperwork and have everything right with the world."  
  
"It's okay Sara. You have me."  
  
"True, but I want Warrick back. I never really knew how our victim's families felt. Now I'm beginning to understand."  
  
"Yeah. Well, we have an exciting adventure ahead of us. We get to pick up Grissom's note. At least we're not sitting in the lab watching surveillance tapes of the place we see every day."  
  
"I agree." ^It's amazing how Nick can calm me down and convince me that everything's going to be okay. I admire him.^  
  
"We're here."  
  
Nick and Sara got of the Tahoe and went inside.  
  
"Do you think the note will tell us where he is?" Sara asked.  
  
"I doubt it. But it will give us some clue as to where he is. Trust me. We will find him before the night is over."  
  
"That sounds reassuring."  
  
"Good. I hoped it would."  
  
"Now, let's go get that note."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"When was the last time we spent the night together watching tapes?" Catherine asked. "Awhile, hasn't it?"  
  
"I have no idea, but we better get them if we want to get done by daytime."  
  
"I was just trying to make conversation." ^This is going to be a long night.^  
  
To be continued.  
  
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_  
  
Thank you to all who gave me reviews for this story! ~Mel 


	3. 3

~3~3~3~3~3~  
  
___________________ Nick opened the door to the Mirage Hotel for Sara. "After you, my dear," he said to her.  
  
"Thanks Nick," she said giggling. She moved in closer to him and he didn't seem to notice. ^Oh well, here goes nothing,^ she thought as she moved in even close to him and put her arm around him. There. That got his attention this time. To Sara's surprise though, Nick didn't say anything. He just put his arm around her. Sara smiled with contempt. They walked up to the front desk like this.  
  
"Hi. I'm Sara Sidle and this is Nick Stokes," Sara said, introducing themselves. She put more oomph on the last part.  
  
"We have a letter addressed to a Grissom behind your counter," Nick said. "May we take a look at it?"  
  
"You most certainly can," Replied the receptionist. She started going through the mountain of papers on the desk. She looked under this, and over that. Finally, after what seemed like hours to Nick, she found it. "Would this be it?" she asked them. She held up a crisp, white envelope with the words "for Grissom" typed across it.  
  
"That must be it," said Nick in relief. "Thank you." He took the letter nad pit it in a evidence bag that he brought. This he had in one hand and he took Sara's hand in his other. They walked out the door hand in hand and out to the Tahoe. "Think Grissom can wait a few more Minutes than he absolutely has to?" he asked Sara.  
  
"What do you mean?" she asked back, perplexed.  
  
"Well, we don't have to wait until we get back to your place this morning." Nick trailed off.  
  
Sara smiled a devious smile. "He can wait." It was her this time who took Nick's hand and hopped into the backseat with him.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"I cannot believe that the fucking camera wasn't even working!" Catherine raged. She was pissed. "What are we going to do now?"  
  
"Dust for prints," replied Grissom, as calm as the night.  
  
"Dust for prints?! Grissom, a valuable piece of evidence got away because some equipment in your lab wasn't working! What do you say to that?"  
  
Grissom was at a loss for words. He had never seen Catherine like this before. She was really, really mad. Just about all he could do was stand there and stand thee staring at her. Anything he said most likely would hurt his cause, so he kept his mouth shut this time around.  
  
"That's what I thought. Well, all I know now is that one of us needs to go to QD and get Warrick's note analyzed. I'll be back with the results when I get them." She stormed off down the hall. ^I cannot believe that he would let his equipment go unfixed. And the camera went out just today! The county will have a field day with this! Yay, now I get to take this damn letter to QD. At least it's away from Grissom.^ She seethed about Grissom all the way.  
  
When she finally got to QD, she shoved the note at the lab tech. Mandy was working here tonight. "Analyze this for handwriting and every other possible thing you can think of." Catherine snapped. "Top priority."  
  
"Okay, whatever you say," said Mandy. "Miss pissy," she added under her breath.  
  
"What the hell did you just say?" Catherine growled. She was staring down at her nails, having not a care in the world.  
  
"Nothing, nothing."  
  
"Good. You better not have."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Wow," said Sara, emerging from the backseat. "That made my day."  
  
"Mine too," said Nick, who was just getting into the backseat.  
  
Sara looked at Nick admirably. "Your hair is sticking up a bit. Let me fix that for you," she said to him. Sara extended her hand and smoothed Nick's hair down. She had obviously not seen her own hair yet, because it looked worse than it did when she woke up in the afternoon, which was pretty bad.  
  
"Nice," Nick said, enjoying Sara's touch. "Thanks Sara." He started the Tahoe and began to drive.  
  
Sara opened up the visor mirror to neaten herself. Thankfully, she had brought her purse, which had everything she needed. She was just putting on her lipstick when Nick swerved and caused the lipstick to go way off course. "Ni-ick," she whined. "You made me mess up my damn lipstick."  
  
"Well, what do you want me to do?" asked Nick. "That guy was going to run me over if I didn't get out of his way. Do you want us both to be dead? Never mind. Do you want me to pull over and fix that for you?"  
  
"Yeah," Sara responded. "That'd be nice."  
  
"Good." Nick pulled over on the side of the road and stopped the Tahoe. He put is thumb up to Sara's face to wipe off the lipstick, but he never got around to doing what he set out to do. Instead, he pulled he close to him and gave her a nice, long kiss.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Grissom was in Warrick's office dusting for prints. He didn't find one yet, and he had a feeling that he wasn't going to either. "Where are those two?" he asked himself, meaning Sara and Nick. "I sent them out over an hour ago."  
  
He got up and put the lid back on the dusting powder, giving up hope. He took the powder and his brush to his office and set them down on his desk. He then sat down in his chair and sighed. Where was Warrick? Grissom resolved to find him. In the meantime, he decided to call Nick to see what was taking so long.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Now you have lipstick on you too!" remarked Sara. "Let me wipe it off for you." She took a Kleenex from her purse and wiped Nick's face. "There. Now let's get back on the road. I think--"  
  
Sara was cut off buy Nick's phone, which had just started to ring. Nick picked up his Phone and answered it. "Stokes." He listened for a second, then mouthed the words, "It's Grissom," to Sara. She replied with a nod.  
  
"Yes Grissom, we're about five minutes away."  
  
"Did you get the note?"  
  
"Yes. It's sitting right here beside me in the evidence bag." Nick was glad that he remembered to do this much.  
  
"Good, good. How is Sara?"  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Can I talk to her?"  
  
"Yeah. Here she is." He handed the phone to Sara. "Grissom wants to talk to you," he told her.  
  
Sara took the phone. "Hi Grissom."  
  
"Hi. How's everything going?"  
  
"Good."  
  
"Good. Well, see you when you get back to the lab. Bye." Grissom hung up and Sara handed Nick back his phone.  
  
"What Grissom want?" asked Nick.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"Oh."  
  
They drove the rest of the way in silence. Nick concentrated on the road; Sara still fixing her hair and makeup.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Catherine sat in the lab and waited.  
  
"Aren't you done yet?!" she asked for about the fifth time. She was very impatient at the present moment.  
  
"I already told you Catherine," Mandy was saying, "these things take time and if you don't want to wait, either go and do something else and I'll page you when I'm done, or get your ass in here and help me."  
  
"I'm fine sitting here. Hurry up."  
  
To Be Continued. 


	4. WARRICK

~Warrick~ ~4~4~4~4~4~  
  
Warrick had long since been blindfolded. He couldn't see a damn thing, so he remembered little about the past couple hours. He was also sick to his stomach, and that really didn't help much. It didn't help at all. Warrick was lost in his thoughts.  
  
"Get in the fuckin' car!" the now familiar voice yelled at Warrick, shaking him out of his reverie. The voice sounded very low, like a man's, and it scared the shit out of Warrick. He tried to do his best at getting into the car, but he stumbled for the lack of sight. "Jesus. They really need to teach you cops how to walk," the voice taunted.  
  
Warrick sat in the backseat of what felt like a very unkempt car. He was very uncomfortable. In addition to his blindfold, Warrick's was in a straightjacket, and his ankles were bound so that he could only walk by taking little baby steps. He was gagged too.  
  
Warrick felt and heard the car start. The vibration was somewhat of a comfort to him, and he liked that. This was about the fifth time he was being taken somewhere. Maybe more. He had been in and out of consciousness the whole time, so he really had no idea.  
  
They were on the road awhile when the voice spoke. "You will do as you're told when we get out, or I'll shoot. You hear?" The voice pause as if waiting for a response and listened to Warrick's muffled breathing. "Good. I'm glad you understand that I'll blow your brains away if you do so much and put one toe out of line." Then the voice left Warrick to his thoughts again.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
It all started in the evening when Warrick was just getting up. He had a huge headache, he felt weak, and nauseous. He got up and stumbled out of bed. He soon realized that he couldn't walk without falling over, so he went back to his bed and got in it again. He had to call in sick today, no doubt about it.  
  
He reached out for his phone on his nightstand. He picked it up and could barely dial the numbers, let alone say he was sick. On his third try, he finally got the lab. He told Grissom that he wasn't coming with little success, but Grissom seemed to get the idea. He said that for Warrick to rest and stay in bed. Warrick thanked him and hung up.  
  
Warrick felt like he needed to hurl and he didn't want to do it in is bed, or over the side of it on the floor. The bathroom was only a couple steps away, so he got up and leaned on the wall for support. When he was about halfway there, he felt a sharp, piercing pain in his side. He looked down and saw a little red dart for just a split second. Then he blacked out.  
  
When he woke up, he was bound and blindfolded. The gag came later. "What's going on?" he asked in surprise. It also felt like he wasn't in his house any more, and he definitely didn't feel the comfort of his bed. He could also taste the taste of medicine, which someone had to give him because he didn't do it himself.  
  
"You'd shut the hell up if you knew what's good for ya," said the voice. This was the first time he had ever heard it. It was going to become his only company in the hours ahead, if you counted it as company. Warrick tried to make conversation only once more, but he realized it was the person who the voice belonged to that bound him and brought him here.  
  
Warrick was forced to sit in the corner wherever they were at. He tried on numerous occasions to get out of his bindings, but it was futile. The ropes and the straightjacket were no match for him. It seemed that whoever was doing this had done it before.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Warrick returned to the present in the car. He wondered what was going on now with his co-workers. He had heard the voice say once that he left a ransom note back at the lab. Had they found it yet? If yes, did they regard it as a joke, or did they take it seriously? Only God could give him that answer right now, but God really didn't seem to be on his side tonight. Not at all.  
  
Warrick drifted in and out of sleep in the car. He was really tired from the events of the past few hours.  
  
This was definitely the longest ride so far he decided. Warrick sat back and wondered where they were going and where they had gone. This amused him for a while. Then he fell asleep again.  
  
Warrick was suddenly jerked awake by the lack of vibration in the car. They had stopped and were probably getting out soon.  
  
Just as he had thought, the voice ordered him out of the car. "C'mon and get out of the damn car already," it said to him. Warrick really didn't want to get out, but the had to. This time he tried to get out, but he tripped over his binding around his ankles and fell flat on his face. He could taste blood seeping in his mouth, and he could feel the cold pavement against his face.  
  
He lay there for just a second thinking that he could lay here for an hour or two. It felt that good. Before he knew what was happening, though, he felt hands beneath him. With amazing strength, the two hands picked him up. Warrick was on his own two feet again wishing he was back on the ground.  
  
"It'll soon be over boy once I get my money. Then I'm headed to Mexico," the voice said. This for Warrick was the most reassuring thing that he had ever said, as it was the only thing. As for Warrick, he was willing to give everything he owned to get out of this mess and be back in the world as he knew it.  
  
To Be Continued.  
  
_-_-_-_-_-_  
  
If this sucks, please tell me. I have room for improvement. I'll try to get a new chapter up soon. Please R&R! Thanks! ~Mel 


End file.
